Personally, I think that if the Philippines hadn't had Amercian Forces removed then this wouldn't have cropped up.

Oh well, best we dig them old spits up pretty dam quickly, might start needing
them again soon. Kor!! might be able to expand our Empire again and take back
Hong Kong. Nar, me thinks the Japs might wont that as part and parcel in having
to get involved with any fracas with the Chinese. The Japs are rather good at
given the Chinese a spanking....Russia to the right of them, Japan to the left
of them and America, "straight down the middle - straight down the middle",
whilst we sit back and flog 'em all as many arms as we can build.

..and for those who don't know what British satire is, well, you've just read some...
____________The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

When I was a kid and most of the map was coloured pink, we had relative peace in the world, and by that I mean in peacetime not counting the WWI & WWII conflicts. The days of the Victorian Empire had gone, and we had the Elizabethan Commonwealth. But in almost every case, and certainly in Africa, when the Brits moved out and left the locals to get on with it, their country went rapidly downhill.

Look what happened in Uganda with Idi Amin, and is still happening with Mugabi in Zimbabwe (ex Southern Rhodesia). Look at all the other African ex Brit colonies and protectorates and count up all the famines, poverty and dictatorships. It's a similar story elsewhere in the world, with possibly the exception of India.

The original British Empire was in some cases oppressive, I accept that, and it's successor the British Commonwealth partly came into being to redress that. These days in the 21st century the UK is basically happy to let Commonwealth Countries vote for self determination, and give them independence if they wish, but we have a moral duty in doing so to ensure that the country will not be significantly worse off by that move.

It just seems to me that there were/are far to many little tinpot politicians and would be dictators, whipping up support from a largely poor population, to go for self rule for their own personal ends. In many cases they would have been better off staying under the Brits.

When I was a kid and most of the map was coloured pink, we had relative peace in the world, and by that I mean in peacetime not counting the WWI & WWII conflicts. The days of the Victorian Empire had gone, and we had the Elizabethan Commonwealth. But in almost every case, and certainly in Africa, when the Brits moved out and left the locals to get on with it, their country went rapidly downhill.

Look what happened in Uganda with Idi Amin, and is still happening with Mugabi in Zimbabwe (ex Southern Rhodesia). Look at all the other African ex Brit colonies and protectorates and count up all the famines, poverty and dictatorships. It's a similar story elsewhere in the world, with possibly the exception of India.

The original British Empire was in some cases oppressive, I accept that, and it's successor the British Commonwealth partly came into being to redress that. These days in the 21st century the UK is basically happy to let Commonwealth Countries vote for self determination, and give them independence if they wish, but we have a moral duty in doing so to ensure that the country will not be significantly worse off by that move.

It just seems to me that there were/are far to many little tinpot politicians and would be dictators, whipping up support from a largely poor population, to go for self rule for their own personal ends. In many cases they would have been better off staying under the Brits.

...That's it in a nut shell...

What did the Romans ever do for us, taught us how to run an Empire and make
it work...at least we never fed anyone to the lions though. The world is in a
mess, badly in-need of the British influence but can't see it ever happening again though.
____________The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

When I was a kid and most of the map was coloured pink, we had relative peace in the world, and by that I mean in peacetime not counting the WWI & WWII conflicts. The days of the Victorian Empire had gone, and we had the Elizabethan Commonwealth. But in almost every case, and certainly in Africa, when the Brits moved out and left the locals to get on with it, their country went rapidly downhill.

Look what happened in Uganda with Idi Amin, and is still happening with Mugabi in Zimbabwe (ex Southern Rhodesia). Look at all the other African ex Brit colonies and protectorates and count up all the famines, poverty and dictatorships. It's a similar story elsewhere in the world, with possibly the exception of India.

The original British Empire was in some cases oppressive, I accept that, and it's successor the British Commonwealth partly came into being to redress that. These days in the 21st century the UK is basically happy to let Commonwealth Countries vote for self determination, and give them independence if they wish, but we have a moral duty in doing so to ensure that the country will not be significantly worse off by that move.

It just seems to me that there were/are far to many little tinpot politicians and would be dictators, whipping up support from a largely poor population, to go for self rule for their own personal ends. In many cases they would have been better off staying under the Brits.

Sorry for the delay in replying...I suffered a mild heart attack after reading this....